Evening Brief: Monday, September 22, 2014

Tonight’s Evening Brief is brought to you by the Forest Products Association of Canada. Read FPAC’s first report card on Vision2020, Pathways to Prosperity, outlining progress on the three ambitious goals of products, environmental performance and people.

Evening all,

The Lead:

In the fight against the Islamic State today: a credible threat? Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today that his government will do more both at home and abroad to counter Islamic extremism, in response to a new threat levelled directly at Canada. The Islamic State issued a new audio recording late Sunday urging supporters to kill citizens of countries engaged in the battle against IS in northern Iraq, including Canadians. During a news conference today, Harper said security agencies have been tracking these events for some time.”We have, as you know, strengthened laws in this country to deal with these kinds of threats,” he said. “We are currently in the process of examining these laws and examining other means we may have to monitor and to take action against both organizations and individuals who may undertake activities that are potentially threatening to Canadians.”

Canada has sent 69 special forces personnel to serve as advisers to Iraqi forces battling IS jihadis, in addition to humanitarian assistance. Today, Harper suggested Canada could offer further support. “We are continuing our dialogue with our allies to identify ways we can assist in responding to what is genuinely serious threat.”

Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair led off question period with a query as to why an absent Stephen Harper is “boycotting” the United Nations climate change summit in New York tomorrow (see below). That was met with a list of Harper government environmental accomplishments from Colin Carrie, parliamentary secretary to the environment minister. That was followed by many more questions on Harper and climate change, the government’s EI small business tax credit and Canada’s commitment to the IS fight in Iraq, among other topics. See the live blog here and “Five things we learned in Monday QP” here.

Harper and South Korean President Park Geun-hye signed the Canada-South Korea free trade agreement on Parliament Hill today. The signing follows Harper’s visit to South Korea last spring to announce the trade deal that was tabled in the House of Commons in June. The Harper government claims the deal could increase Canadian exports to South Korea by 32 per cent and grow the economy by $1.7 billion. Along with the foreign investment protection agreement with China ratified last week, the deal — Canada’s first major trade deal in the Asia-Pacific is also seen as a major stepping stone for the country’s trade ambitions in the region.

From the Agence France-Presse editorial desk: a warning to intrepid freelancers. “Journalists are no longer welcome in rebel-held Syria … They have become targets, or commodities to be traded for ransom. That is also why we no longer accept work from freelance journalists who travel to places where we ourselves would not venture. It is a strong decision, and one that may not have been made clear enough, so I will repeat it here: If someone travels to Syria and offers us images or information when they return, we will not use it.”